MEDIA RELEASE
Castlemaine, Victoria
Date: Monday 11th May 2021
LARGEST COLLECTION OF CORNISH REFERENCE AND GENEALOGICAL MATERIAL OUTSIDE CORNWALL COMES TO CASTLEMAINE
The Cornish Association of Victoria Incorporated (CAV) today announced the transfer of its Library to the Castlemaine Historical Society.
President of the CAV, Mr. Ken Peak said: “We are delighted to publically announce the relocation and the archiving of the CAV Library material to the Castlemaine Historical Society as a stand-alone collection following an historic agreement between the two organisations.”
The CAV has for many years had a Library of materials related to Cornwall for use by its members as well as by members of the public on application. It’s a rich archive that has been cultivated over a long period of time. It is considered that it is the largest collection of Cornish reference and genealogical material in the world outside of Cornwall. The collection consists of resources in a range of formats including books, journals, magazines, maps, CD-ROMs, extracts, photocopies, pamphlets and guide booklets. The collection represents a range of topics that include Cornwall’s inhabitants, Cornish history, emigrants, mines & mining history, maritime history, education history, church history, local history, occupations, place names, archaeology, geology, reminiscences, social and family history.
In 2019 the Oakleigh Baptist Church, where the Library was housed, approached the CAV requesting church use of the area where much of the Library was housed. This was agreed to and the Library was placed in plastic tubs and stored in a shed on-site.
“Our Committee was of the view that even though we could no longer maintain the Library as it was, its resources should remain intact as one collection wherever it was to be housed and curated,” Mr. Peak said.
The CAV and the Castlemaine Historical Society entered into discussions about the relocation of the CAV Library to Castlemaine. A ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ was prepared and agreed to on May 3rd 2021.
“More than 700,000 Australians identify themselves as having Cornish heritage. Many of these folk, like me, have Cornish ancestors who worked on the Central Victorian Goldfields.
My great, great grandfather Thomas Peak worked as shift manager or mine captain at the Duke of Cornwall mine just down the road at Fryerstown in 1875, when the Rowe Brothers owned it. I am personally proud that such a collection as ours ‘comes home’, as it were, to a place where so many Cornish immigrants to this country worked on the goldfields in the 19th century and helped forge our nation,” Mr. Peak said.
The CAV is a small but vibrant association with 200+ current members that meets monthly at the Oakleigh Baptist Church Hall in Melbourne. The CAV has a regular Newsletter and information about our organisation can be found on our CAV website at: http://www.cornishvic.org.au/index.html
The Castlemaine Historical Society has agreed to archive and curate the material as well as making the former CAV material available for CAV members to peruse free of charge on appointment.
“This is an excellent outcome and we look forward to working successfully with the Castlemaine Historical Society for many years to come,” Mr. Peak concluded.
ENDS
Media Contact: Ken Peak, President CAV – 0400 309 469
